Kirk Brumels, associate professor of kinesiology and director of athletic training at Hope College, is president-elect of the Michigan Athletic Trainers' Society (MATS).

He began a two-year term as president-elect this month and will be president of MATS for 2011 and 2012.

Brumels, a certified member of the National Athletic Trainers' Association, has been a member of the Hope faculty since 2001. He had previously spent more than a decade as an athletic trainer with the New England Patriots.

A 1988 graduate of Hope's athletic training program, he worked with the college's basketball, baseball, field hockey and football teams as well as in the athletic training room as a student. His undergraduate experiences also included an internship with the Patriots during the summer before his senior year.

After Hope he did graduate work in athletic training at WesternMichiganUniversity, completing his master's in 1990. While in the master's program he was also the staff athletic trainer at St. Mary's Sports Med Center in Grand Rapids. He completed his doctorate at Western Michigan University in 2005.

He worked with the New England Patriots in Foxboro, Mass., from 1990 to 2001. His responsibilities included supervising, educating and coordinating student athletic trainers during summer training camp and various internship positions throughout the football season. He also worked with the team physician and head athletic trainer to coordinate all aspects of medical services for the team and its staff.

Brumels has been a guest speaker or lecturer in numerous venues. Since 1999, he has also been a consultant with Gymamerica.com, teaching various sections of the Athletic Training Practicum, Safety, First-Aid, and CPR, and Assessment of Athletic Injuries.

MATS is a not-for-profit organization formed to assist its members and to educate the public on the role of a certified athletic trainer (ATC) within the health care profession. The society consists of certified athletic trainers, non-certified athletic training students and other health care professionals. Brumels's active involvement with the society has included chairing the Professional Education Committee during 2007 and 2008.

Athletic trainers are allied health care professionals who prevent, manage and rehabilitate injuries in physically active populations. Hope offers a major in athletic training as one of three majors within the department of kinesiology. Hope was the first liberal arts college in Michigan, and is one of only a few institutions in the state, to have its athletic training program accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs.